Paisley and Brown Paper

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Last week I was messing about on YouTube. I bought a clamp thingy on eBay a couple of weeks ago for my daughter so she could use her iPod to film stuff, and I ended up having a test run while she was at school one day. I have to say, I have A LOT to learn about making YouTube videos, but for a first try, I think I did ok. So, I filmed a little three part series on time lapse of me painting a small wooden canister. Kikki.k have some beautiful new home wares in store at the moment, including these beautiful wooden canisters, and I just HAD to buy a couple of them. Immediately I just saw a blank canvas and an opportunity to paint a gorgeous mandala on them. I obviously filmed it in time lapse as it took several hours for me to finish the project. Now, please forgive the quality of the videos. I'm using an iPhone 5, and this is a first time for me. I was using the Splice app for iPhone, which is incredibly easy to use, but I guess limited with it's editing features. But for a beginner such as myself, it was perfect.

So now I present my first three videos on my YouTube channel! I hope you enjoy them!

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

As I said before, I have a lot to learn about making YouTube videos and I would like to make more, so I'm looking into ways where I can film with a camera that has much better resolution, and edit with a program that has a lot more features! If you like my videos, I hope you'll subscribe to see more. This is my channel >HERE<. I would LOVE to hear your feedback and suggestions on how I can improve my videos, so please feel free to comment!

Sunday, February 28, 2016

This weekend, my daughter suggested we make bath bombs. I thought this was a great idea, so I promptly went about getting all the necessary items together and set everything up. After trawling on Pinterest for a while, we found one that 'apparently' is the same one that Lush use for their bath bombs. My daughter absolutely LOVES Lush at the moment, so she was most excited to be able to possibly make the same bath bombs as they do. Overall, they turned out AMAZINGLY, however, they were a bit too oily, so if you're going to try this recipe, I'd adjust it to have a little less coconut oil.

First we put all of our ingredients aside. This image shows extra ingredients as we had a few recipes we were going to try as well, but settled on using the Lush recipe.

For this method, we used:

1 Cup of Citric Acid

1 Cup Baking Soda (BiCarbonate of Soda)

1/2 Cup of Cornstarch (Cornflour)

1/2 Cup of Coconut Oil (maybe a bit less as we found it a bit too oily)

12 Drops of Essential Oil (of your choice)

Silicon Molds or Bath Bomb Molds

Food Colouring (optional)

Spray Bottle of Water (optional)

1. Mix all of your dry ingredients (Citric Acid, Baking Soda and Cornstarch) in a bowl. Combine them well. Now is the best time to add your food colouring, if you're going to. DON'T do what we did and add it to the oils! (See next image)

2. In a separate bowl, or jug, mix your oils (melted coconut oil, essential oil). As you can see, we added food colouring to our oil which did not mix, but separated into individual drops. So we decided to go back and add the colouring to the dry ingredients.

So we added just enough colouring to make it a nice soft pink.

3. Slowly add the oil to your dry mix. It will fizz up so you need to work quickly. Only add LITTLE BITS AT A TIME. Mix that in and then add more, mix then add, mix then add and keep going until all your oil is combined. You should have a consistency of damp sand. If you grab a small handful and clench it in your hand, it should hold together. Ours was a tiny bit crumbly, so I added 3 spritzes of water to it and it did the trick. I wouldn't add any more water than that.

4. Press your mixture tightly into your molds. Using the back of a spoon to pack it in is helpful.

5. Leave them in the mold to set for about 24 hours. Once we removed them from the molds, we let them air dry for a further 6 hours and then they were ready to pop into the bath! The video below shows you just how fizzy they are! We called our bath bombs Raspberry Lemonade, as we used pink food colouring and Lemon Myrtle Essential Oil. The coconut oil added extra scent to the bombs too, so we decided that Raspberry Lemonade was a great name for our bath bombs.

We thought this was just the best fun and we cannot wait to try some different recipes and scents! There are so many different recipes to try! But first, we are going to try making lip balm, so stay tuned, as I will post photos of that too! Thanks for stopping by! x

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

To try and get into the habit of blogging again, I'm going to post little blogs on my creative happenings. I figure that if I do this regularly, whether it be posting shirt blogs or just some imagery, I'll get better at this blogging thing. So, today I thought I'd post about the little macrame crystal ball I made on the weekend. I actually made one of these a couple of years ago using a tumbled gemstone and have always wanted to make more. I remembered a stash of small crystal balls and gemstones my mum gave me years ago, so I pulled them out, along with my hemp cord and sat down to work!

I had a lot of fun making this! I could use a bit more practice, so I have a couple more crystal balls I can use, and a large stash of tumbled gem stones I can use. I am hoping I can make some more on my next day off work (yes, I have a day job. I can only wish that my creativity could earn me a decent living. 😜 Lol!) I'd also like to have a go at making a bracelet like this too. I shall certainly post photos of the process too!

But, as I promised my daughter, we will be making bath bombs this weekend. I bought all the supplies today. Probably cheaper just to buy the bath bombs from Lush, but I'm looking forward to the creative process and hanging out with my daughter! Again, I will post images of our crafternoon together! I'm really looking forward to it!

So, what was meant to be a short post has turned into quite a lengthy one. On that note, I shall sign off for now, but thank you for stopping by my blog today! x

Monday, February 22, 2016

See, I told you I would come back today to do a February catch up, and get myself, and you guys, all up to date with my creative adventures. So, again, I'm going to just post a bunch of photos to give you all a window into my little creative realm...

And the highlights of February so far have been our family holiday up the Murray River, teaching my daughter how to make macrame bracelets, discovering that I'd like to paint (even though I'm not very good at it) and making little macrame nets for crystal balls and tumbled gem stones. I'd like to make some more of those, so my 'intention' is to blog about this at some point too.

As I mentioned in my last post, there are a lot of ideas brewing at the moment so I'm making sure to document everything as much as I can. This weekend, my daughter and I are going to attempt making bath bombs! I'll be sure to post images for you! In the meantime though, enjoy the images today. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to blog again very soon! x

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Ok, so we're all tired of hearing how awful I am at blogging. You get it, no need to go on about it. Which is why I'm going to just post some images on what I've been up to since I last blogged. Needless to say, I have had LOADS of ideas brewing and I've been keeping a journal of all my ideas, plans and projects. This year so far has taken a very interesting turn in regards to my creativity and I'm really excited about what has transpired! I'd love to fill you in on all the details and if i had been a better blogger, you'd know it all by now. So for the time being, I'm just going to leave these photos here...

And this is just a January catch up! Tomorrow I'll post a February (so far) catch up. Then we'll see if I can actually be a better blogger in 2016!

Thursday, December 3, 2015

This is just a quick post today to you all know that if you purchase a copy of the Color For Clarity colouring book before Jan 1st 2016, you will receive a FREE eBook as our way of saying thank you for your support! Inside are some EXCLUSIVE colouring in pages that are not featured in the book, plus some amazing resources to help you keep your creativity flowing. For those who have already purchased a copy of the book, you have not missed out! Just email a copy of your receipt (or any proof of purchase of the book) to hello@kristalnorton.com and a copy of the eBook will be emailed out to you! Copies of the book are available here: http://amzn.to/1O86hEb

Friday, November 20, 2015

Just a quick post tonight to let you guys know that I'm holding a giveaway on my Facebook AND Instagram accounts! To celebrate the release of Color For Clarity on Amazon, I will be giving away TWO copies of the colouring book!

To be in it to win it, all you need to do is head over to my Facebook page OR hop onto my Instagram and follow the prompts! I'll also leave the details here for you, so you can have a bit of a heads up on what to do.

TO ENTER, all you need to do is:

1. Follow my Facebook and/or Instagram (@paisleyandbrownpaper) accounts.2. FACEBOOK ENTRY: Repost this PUBLICLY on your Facebook account and tag Paisley and Brown Paper in it, so I can see that you have reposted and your entry can be counted. **Some of you have mentioned that you are unable to tag me. As long as your Share is made PUBLIC, I should be able to see that you have shared it. Please comment below if you are having problems**3. INSTAGRAM ENTRY: Go to my Instagram account and find this image. Repost to your account using the hashtag ‪#‎paisleyandbpgiveaway‬ and tag me in your post.***Entries are open until midnight Friday November 27th and will be announced on Monday 30th November***

Sunday, November 15, 2015

I can't believe this is really happening! After months of designing and collaborating, and waiting, the colouring book we have all worked so hard on to create has finally been published! I still haven't received my copies, so I haven't even seen what it all looks like inside. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to see it. For now, it really does seem so surreal!

Color For Clarity is a colouring book designed to encourage us to stop, stay present and listen to what is going on around us, and more importantly within us. Inside the book, you will find 50 pages of beautifully designed colouring pages, all with a word, question or quote, for you to focus and meditate on while you colour.

Here, is a small peek at some of the beautiful pages you will find within, and also one of my designs that the gorgeous Kristal Norton has coloured in herself!

The book is available on Amazon, and you can order your copy by clicking HERE! This is a perfect gift for Christmas! And remember, when you get your copy, don't forget to share your colouring in on Instagram and use#colorforclarity to tag it so we can see it!

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

This is a couple of weeks overdue, but it's something I am still really excited to share with all of you. Those of you who follow my Facebook page will already be in the loop. And, yes, as pretty much ALL of you know, I am still holding the title for World's Worst Blogger....

So anyway! A few months ago, the gorgeous Kristal Norton invited me to collaborate with herself, and some other amazing artists, to create a new colouring book she would be publishing in November, called Color For Clarity (Not Perfection). With the current trend in coloring books, I thought this would be an amazing opportunity and absolutely jumped at the chance to feature in one. Kristal hopes to take our colouring in experience just a little bit further though and says,

"What if, instead of just zoning out to relax when you color, you let your mind explore and expand on one small topic? What kind of clarity or wisdom would you receive if you allowed yourself the time for creative mindful exploration?"

This is something we have all worked hard on over the last few months and I believe we have all created some fabulous pages that we truly hope you will enjoy colouring in. For you to find out even more about the colouring book, stay up to date with all the current details and find out information about all the artists involved, click on the image (or link) below!

For the time being, here are a couple of images I can share with you. Just a couple of sneaky peeks of my contributions for you to enjoy! I really hope you'll pop over to Kristal's website and sign yourself up. I'm absolutely bursting with excitement for it's release, and to finally see all our hard work published!

So, please stay tuned for the November release of Color For Clarity. Between now and the release, I will also try to keep you updated on events, and possibly post a couple more sneak peek images of some of my designs for the book.